Modernizing legacy Java project using GitHub Copilot App Modernization upgrade for Java
In this blog, we explore how the GitHub Copilot App Modernization – Upgrade for Java can streamline the process of modernizing legacy Java applications. To put the tool to the test, we selected the widely known Spring Boot Pet Clinic project, originally built with Java 8 and Spring Boot 2.x. Using GitHub Copilot Upgrade for Java’s modernization capabilities, we successfully upgraded the project to Java 21 and Spring Boot 3.4.x. This post highlights the upgrade journey, showcases the tool’s capabilities, and shares practical tips and lessons learned along the way.Introducing Azure AI Travel Agents: A Flagship MCP-Powered Sample for AI Travel Solutions
We are excited to introduce AI Travel Agents, a sample application with enterprise functionality that demonstrates how developers can coordinate multiple AI agents (written in multiple languages) to explore travel planning scenarios. It's built with LlamaIndex.TS for agent orchestration, Model Context Protocol (MCP) for structured tool interactions, and Azure Container Apps for scalable deployment. TL;DR: Experience the power of MCP and Azure Container Apps with The AI Travel Agents! Try out live demo locally on your computer for free to see real-time agent collaboration in action. Share your feedback on our community forum. We’re already planning enhancements, like new MCP-integrated agents, enabling secure communication between the AI agents and MCP servers and more. NOTE: This example uses mock data and is intended for demonstration purposes rather than production use. The Challenge: Scaling Personalized Travel Planning Travel agencies grapple with complex tasks: analyzing diverse customer needs, recommending destinations, and crafting itineraries, all while integrating real-time data like trending spots or logistics. Traditional systems falter with latency, scalability, and coordination, leading to delays and frustrated clients. The AI Travel Agents tackles these issues with a technical trifecta: LlamaIndex.TS orchestrates six AI agents for efficient task handling. MCP equips agents with travel-specific data and tools. Azure Container Apps ensures scalable, serverless deployment. This architecture delivers operational efficiency and personalized service at scale, transforming chaos into opportunity. LlamaIndex.TS: Orchestrating AI Agents The heart of The AI Travel Agents is LlamaIndex.TS, a powerful agentic framework that orchestrates multiple AI agents to handle travel planning tasks. Built on a Node.js backend, LlamaIndex.TS manages agent interactions in a seamless and intelligent manner: Task Delegation: The Triage Agent analyzes queries and routes them to specialized agents, like the Itinerary Planning Agent, ensuring efficient workflows. Agent Coordination: LlamaIndex.TS maintains context across interactions, enabling coherent responses for complex queries, such as multi-city trip plans. LLM Integration: Connects to Azure OpenAI, GitHub Models or any local LLM using Foundy Local for advanced AI capabilities. LlamaIndex.TS’s modular design supports extensibility, allowing new agents to be added with ease. LlamaIndex.TS is the conductor, ensuring agents work in sync to deliver accurate, timely results. Its lightweight orchestration minimizes latency, making it ideal for real-time applications. MCP: Fueling Agents with Data and Tools The Model Context Protocol (MCP) empowers AI agents by providing travel-specific data and tools, enhancing their functionality. MCP acts as a data and tool hub: Real-Time Data: Supplies up-to-date travel information, such as trending destinations or seasonal events, via the Web Search Agent using Bing Search. Tool Access: Connects agents to external tools, like the .NET-based customer queries analyzer for sentiment analysis, the Python-based itinerary planning for trip schedules or destination recommendation tools written in Java. For example, when the Destination Recommendation Agent needs current travel trends, MCP delivers via the Web Search Agent. This modularity allows new tools to be integrated seamlessly, future-proofing the platform. MCP’s role is to enrich agent capabilities, leaving orchestration to LlamaIndex.TS. Azure Container Apps: Scalability and Resilience Azure Container Apps powers The AI Travel Agents sample application with a serverless, scalable platform for deploying microservices. It ensures the application handles varying workloads with ease: Dynamic Scaling: Automatically adjusts container instances based on demand, managing booking surges without downtime. Polyglot Microservices: Supports .NET (Customer Query), Python (Itinerary Planning), Java (Destination Recommandation) and Node.js services in isolated containers. Observability: Integrates tracing, metrics, and logging enabling real-time monitoring. Serverless Efficiency: Abstracts infrastructure, reducing costs and accelerating deployment. Azure Container Apps' global infrastructure delivers low-latency performance, critical for travel agencies serving clients worldwide. The AI Agents: A Quick Look While MCP and Azure Container Apps are the stars, they support a team of multiple AI agents that drive the application’s functionality. Built and orchestrated with Llamaindex.TS via MCP, these agents collaborate to handle travel planning tasks: Triage Agent: Directs queries to the right agent, leveraging MCP for task delegation. Customer Query Agent: Analyzes customer needs (emotions, intents), using .NET tools. Destination Recommendation Agent: Suggests tailored destinations, using Java. Itinerary Planning Agent: Crafts efficient itineraries, powered by Python. Web Search Agent: Fetches real-time data via Bing Search. These agents rely on MCP’s real-time communication and Azure Container Apps’ scalability to deliver responsive, accurate results. It's worth noting though this sample application uses mock data for demonstration purpose. In real worl scenario, the application would communicate with an MCP server that is plugged in a real production travel API. Key Features and Benefits The AI Travel Agents offers features that showcase the power of MCP and Azure Container Apps: Real-Time Chat: A responsive Angular UI streams agent responses via MCP’s SSE, ensuring fluid interactions. Modular Tools: MCP enables tools like analyze_customer_query to integrate seamlessly, supporting future additions. Scalable Performance: Azure Container Apps ensures the UI, backend and the MCP servers handle high traffic effortlessly. Transparent Debugging: An accordion UI displays agent reasoning providing backend insights. Benefits: Efficiency: LlamaIndex.TS streamlines operations. Personalization: MCP’s data drives tailored recommendations. Scalability: Azure ensures reliability at scale. Thank You to Our Contributors! The AI Travel Agents wouldn’t exist without the incredible work of our contributors. Their expertise in MCP development, Azure deployment, and AI orchestration brought this project to life. A special shoutout to: Pamela Fox – Leading the developement of the Python MCP server. Aaron Powell and Justin Yoo – Leading the developement of the .NET MCP server. Rory Preddy – Leading the developement of the Java MCP server. Lee Stott and Kinfey Lo – Leading the developement of the Local AI Foundry Anthony Chu and Vyom Nagrani – Leading Azure Container Apps roadmap Matt Soucoup and Julien Dubois – Leading the ACA DevRel strategy Wassim Chegham – Architected MCP and backend orchestration. And many more! See the GitHub repository for all contributors. Thank you for your dedication to pushing the boundaries of AI and cloud technology! Try It Out Experience the power of MCP and Azure Container Apps with The AI Travel Agents! Try out live demo locally on your computer for free to see real-time agent collaboration in action. Conclusion Developers can explore today the open-source project on GitHub, with setup and deployment instructions. Share your feedback on our community forum. We’re already planning enhancements, like new MCP-integrated agents, enabling secure communication between the AI agents and MCP servers and more. This is still a work in progress and we also welcome all kind of contributions. Please fork and star the repo to stay tuned for updates! ◾️We would love your feedback and continue the discussion in the Azure AI Foundry Discord aka.ms/foundry/discord On behalf of Microsoft DevRel Team.Week 4 . Microsoft Agents Hack Online Events and Readiness Resources
Readiness and skilling events for Week 4: Microsoft AI Agents Hack Register Now at https://aka.ms/agentshack 2025 is the year of AI agents! But what exactly is an agent, and how can you build one? Whether you're a seasoned developer or just starting out, this FREE three-week virtual hackathon is your chance to dive deep into AI agent development. 🔥 Learn from expert-led sessions streamed live on YouTube, covering top frameworks like Semantic Kernel, Autogen, the new Azure AI Agents SDK and the Microsoft 365 Agents SDK. Week 4: April 28th-30th Live and On Demand Topic Track Irresponsible AI Agents Java Securing AI agents on Azure Python The Art of AI Embodiment: Real-Time Interactive Experiences with Azure OpenAI GPT-4o and 3D Avatars Python Evaluating Agents Python 🌟 Join the Conversation on Azure AI Foundry Discussions! 🌟 Have ideas, questions, or insights about AI? Don't keep them to yourself! Share your thoughts, engage with experts, and connect with a community that’s shaping the future of artificial intelligence. 🧠✨ 👉 Click here to join the discussion!Construa, inove e #Hacktogether!
🛠️ Construa, inove e #Hacktogether! 🛠️ 2025 é o ano dos agentes de IA! Mas o que exatamente é um agente? E como você pode criar um? Seja você um desenvolvedor experiente ou esteja apenas começando, este hackathon virtual GRATUITO de três semanas é sua chance de mergulhar no desenvolvimento de agentes de IA. 🔥 Aprenda com mais de 20 sessões lideradas por especialistas, transmitidas ao vivo no YouTube, abordando os principais frameworks, como Semantic Kernel, Autogen, o novo Azure AI Agents SDK e o Microsoft 365 Agents SDK. 💡 Coloque a mão na massa, explore sua criatividade e crie agentes de IA poderosos! Depois, envie seu projeto e concorra a prêmios incríveis! 💸 Datas importantes: Sessões com especialistas: 8 de abril de 2025 – 30 de abril de 2025 Prazo para envio do hack: 30 de abril de 2025, 23:59 PST Não perca essa oportunidade—junte-se a nós e comece a construir o futuro da IA! 🔥 Inscrição 🎟️ Garanta sua vaga agora! Preencha o formulário para confirmar sua participação no hackathon. Em seguida, confira a programação das transmissões ao vivo e inscreva-se nas sessões que mais te interessam. Após se inscrever, apresente-se e procure por colegas de equipe! Submissão de Projetos 🚀 Leia atentamente as regras oficiais e certifique-se de entender os requisitos. Quando seu projeto estiver pronto, siga o processo de submissão. 📝 Prêmios e Categorias 🏅 Os projetos serão avaliados por um painel de jurados, incluindo engenheiros da Microsoft, gerentes de produto e defensores de desenvolvedores. Os critérios de avaliação incluirão inovação, impacto, usabilidade técnica e alinhamento com a categoria correspondente do hackathon. Cada equipe vencedora nas categorias abaixo receberá um prêmio. 💸 Melhor Agente Geral - $20,000 Melhor Agente em Python - $5,000 Melhor Agente em C# - $5,000 Melhor Agente em Java - $5,000 Melhor Agente em JavaScript/TypeScript - $5,000 Melhor Agente Copilot (usando Microsoft Copilot Studio ou Microsoft 365 Agents SDK) - $5,000 Melhor Uso do Azure AI Agent Service - $5,000 Cada equipe pode ganhar em apenas uma categoria. Todos os participantes que submeterem um projeto receberão um badge digital. Transmissões 📅 Português Inscreva-se em todas as sessões em português Dia/Horário Tópico Recursos 4/8 12:00 PM PT Bem-vindo ao AI Agents Hackathon - 4/10 12:00 PM PT Crie um aplicativo com o Azure AI Agent Service - 4/17 06:00 AM PT Seu primeiro agente de IA em JavaScript com o Azure AI Agent Service - Outros Idiomas Teremos mais de 30 transmissões em inglês, além de transmissões em espanhol e chinês. Veja a página principal para mais detalhes. 🕒 Horário de Suporte Técnico Precisa de ajuda com seu projeto? Participe do Horário de Suporte Técnico no canal de Discord de IA e receba orientação de especialistas! 🚀 Aqui estão os horários de atendimento já agendados: Dia/Horário Tópico/Anfitriões Toda quinta-feira, 12:30 PM PT Python + IA (Inglês) Toda segunda-feira, 03:00 PM PT Python + IA (Espanhol) Recursos de Aprendizado 📚 Acesse os recursos aqui! Junte-se ao TheSource EHub para explorar os principais recursos, incluindo treinamentos, transmissões ao vivo, repositórios, guias técnicos, blogs, downloads, certificações e muito mais, atualizados mensalmente. A seção de Agentes de IA oferece recursos essenciais para criar agentes de IA, enquanto outras seções fornecem insights sobre IA, ferramentas de desenvolvimento e linguagens de programação. Você também pode postar perguntas em nosso fórum de discussões ou conversar com outros participantes no canal do Discord.Microsoft AI Agents Hack April 8-30th 2025
Build, Innovate, and #Hacktogether Learn from 20+ expert-led sessions streamed live on YouTube, covering top frameworks like Semantic Kernel, Autogen, the new Azure AI Agents SDK and the Microsoft 365 Agents SDK. Get hands-on experience, unleash your creativity, and build powerful AI agents—then submit your hack for a chance to win amazing prizes! Key Dates Expert sessions: April 8th 2025 – April 30th 2025 Hack submission deadline: April 30th 2025, 11:59 PM PST Don't miss out — join us and start building the future of AI! Registration Register now! That form will register you for the hackathon. Afterwards, browse through the live stream schedule below and register for the sessions you're interested in. Once you're registered, introduce yourself and look for teammates! Project Submission Once your hack is ready, follow the submission process. Prizes and Categories Projects will be evaluated by a panel of judges, including Microsoft engineers, product managers, and developer advocates. Judging criteria will include innovation, impact, technical usability, and alignment with corresponding hackathon category. Each winning team in the categories below will receive a prize. Best Overall Agent - $20,000 Best Agent in Python - $5,000 Best Agent in C# - $5,000 Best Agent in Java - $5,000 Best Agent in JavaScript/TypeScript - $5,000 Best Copilot Agent (using Microsoft Copilot Studio or Microsoft 365 Agents SDK) - $5,000 Best Azure AI Agent Service Usage - $5,000 Each team can only win in one category. All participants who submit a project will receive a digital badge. Stream Schedule The series starts with a kick-off for all developers, and then dives into specific tracks for Python, Java, C#, and JavaScript developers. The Copilots track will focus on building intelligent copilots with Microsoft 365 and Copilot Studio. English Week 1: April 8th-11th Day/Time Topic Track 4/8 09:00 AM PT AI Agents Hackathon Kickoff All 4/9 09:00 AM PT Build your code-first app with Azure AI Agent Service Python 4/9 12:00 PM PT AI Agents for Java using Azure AI Foundry Java 4/9 03:00 PM PT Build your code-first app with Azure AI Agent Service Python 4/10 04:00 AM PT Building Secure and Intelligent Copilots with Microsoft 365 Copilots 4/10 09:00 AM PT Overview of Microsoft 365 Copilot Extensibility Copilots 4/10 12:00 PM PT Transforming business processes with multi-agent AI using Semantic Kernel Python 4/10 03:00 PM PT Build your code-first app with Azure AI Agent Service (.NET) C# Week 2: April 14th-18th Day/Time Topic Track 4/15 07:00 AM PT Your first AI Agent in JS with Azure AI Agent Service JS 4/15 09:00 AM PT Building Agentic Applications with AutoGen v0.4 Python 4/15 12:00 PM PT AI Agents + .NET Aspire C# 4/15 03:00 PM PT Prototyping AI Agents with GitHub Models Python 4/16 04:00 AM PT Multi-agent AI apps with Semantic Kernel and Azure Cosmos DB C# 4/16 06:00 AM PT Building declarative agents with Microsoft Copilot Studio & Teams Toolkit Copilots 4/16 09:00 AM PT Building agents with an army of models from the Azure AI model catalog Python 4/16 12:00 PM PT Multi-Agent API with LangGraph and Azure Cosmos DB Python 4/16 03:00 PM PT Mastering Agentic RAG Python 4/17 06:00 AM PT Build your own agent with OpenAI, .NET, and Copilot Studio C# 4/17 09:00 AM PT Building smarter Python AI agents with code interpreters Python 4/17 12:00 PM PT Building Java AI Agents using LangChain4j and Dynamic Sessions Java 4/17 03:00 PM PT Agentic Voice Mode Unplugged Python Week 3: April 21st-25th Day/Time Topic Track 4/21 12:00 PM PT Knowledge-augmented agents with LlamaIndex.TS JS 4/22 06:00 AM PT Building a AI Agent with Prompty and Azure AI Foundry Python 4/22 09:00 AM PT Real-time Multi-Agent LLM solutions with SignalR, gRPC, and HTTP based on Semantic Kernel Python 4/22 10:30 AM PT Learn Live: Fundamentals of AI agents on Azure - 4/22 12:00 PM PT Demystifying Agents: Building an AI Agent from Scratch on Your Own Data using Azure SQL C# 4/22 03:00 PM PT VoiceRAG: talk to your data Python 4/14 06:00 AM PT Prompting is the New Scripting: Meet GenAIScript JS 4/23 09:00 AM PT Building Multi-Agent Apps on top of Azure PostgreSQL Python 4/23 12:00 PM PT Agentic RAG with reflection Python 4/23 03:00 PM PT Multi-source data patterns for modern RAG apps C# 4/24 09:00 AM PT Extending AI Agents with Azure Functions Python, C# 4/24 12:00 PM PT Build real time voice agents with Azure Communication Services Python 4/24 03:00 PM PT Bringing robots to life: Real-time interactive experiences with Azure OpenAI GPT-4o Python Week 4: April 28th-30th Day/Time Topic Track 4/29, 01:00 PM UTC / 06:00 AM PT Irresponsible AI Agents Java 4/29, 04:00 PM UTC / 09:00 AM PT Securing AI agents on Azure Python Spanish / Español See all our Spanish sessions on the Spanish landing page. Consulta todas nuestras sesiones en español en la página de inicio en español. Portuguese / Português See our Portuguese sessions on the Portuguese landing page. Veja nossas sessões em português na página de entrada em português. Chinese / 简体字 See our Chinese sessions on the Chinese landing page. 请查看我们的中文课程在中文登录页面. Office Hours For additional help with your hacks, you can drop by Office Hours in our AI Discord channel. Here are the Office Hours scheduled so far: Day/Time Topic/Hosts Every Thursday, 12:30 PM PT Python + AI (English) Every Monday, 03:00 PM PT Python + AI (Spanish) Learning Resources Access resources here! Join TheSource EHub to explore top picks including trainings, livestreams, repositories, technical guides, blogs, downloads, certifications, and more, all updated monthly. The AI Agent section offers essential resources for creating AI Agents, while other sections provide insights into AI, development tools, and programming languages. You can also post questions in our discussions forum, or chat with attendees in the Discord channel.Unlocking Java and AI Potential: Learning Plan, JavaOne, and JDConf 2025
Power AI-app development at Microsoft JDConf and with Azure Java skilling Microsoft is advancing Java AI development with JavaOne 2025 and JDConf 2025, alongside the "Let’s Explore Java Together on Azure" learning plan. Developers can leverage Azure AI services, Cognitive Services, Machine Learning, and Databricks to build intelligent Java applications. With Azure Container Apps, App Service, and Functions, Java workloads become scalable and high-performing. Join JavaOne (March 18-20, 2025) in California or JDConf (April 9-10, 2025) virtually to explore AI-driven Java innovations, Spring Boot 3.x, Quarkus, and GraalVM. Learn more and start building AI-powered Java solutions today! Register Now | Start LearningUnlocking the Power of Azure Container Apps in 1 Minute Video
Azure Container Apps provides a seamless way to build, deploy, and scale cloud-native applications without the complexity of managing infrastructure. Whether you’re developing microservices, APIs, or AI-powered applications, this fully managed service enables you to focus on writing code while Azure handles scalability, networking, and deployments. In this blog post, we explore five essential aspects of Azure Container Apps—each highlighted in a one-minute video. From intelligent applications and secure networking to effortless deployments and rollbacks, these insights will help you maximize the capabilities of serverless containers on Azure. Azure Container Apps - in 1 Minute Azure Container Apps is a fully managed platform designed for cloud-native applications, providing effortless deployment and scaling. It eliminates infrastructure complexity, letting developers focus on writing code while Azure automatically handles scaling based on demand. Whether running APIs, event-driven applications, or microservices, Azure Container Apps ensures high performance and flexibility with minimal operational overhead. Watch the video on YouTube Intelligent Apps with Azure Container Apps – in 1 Minute Azure Container Apps, Azure OpenAI, and Azure AI Search make it possible to build intelligent applications with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG). Your app can call Azure OpenAI in real-time to generate and interpret data, while Azure AI Search retrieves relevant information, enhancing responses with up-to-date context. For advanced scenarios, AI models can execute live code via Azure Container Apps, and GPU-powered instances support fine-tuning and inferencing at scale. This seamless integration enables AI-driven applications to deliver dynamic, context-aware functionality with ease. Watch the video on YouTube Networking for Azure Container Apps: VNETs, Security Simplified – in 1 Minute Azure Container Apps provides built-in networking features, including support for Virtual Networks (VNETs) to control service-to-service communication. Secure internal traffic while exposing public endpoints with custom domain names and free certificates. Fine-tuned ingress and egress controls ensure that only the right traffic gets through, maintaining a balance between security and accessibility. Service discovery is automatic, making inter-app communication seamless within your Azure Container Apps environment. Watch the video on YouTube Azure Continuous Deployment and Observability with Azure Container Apps - in 1 Minute Azure Container Apps simplifies continuous deployment with built-in integrations for GitHub Actions and Azure DevOps pipelines. Every code change triggers a revision, ensuring smooth rollouts with zero downtime. Observability is fully integrated via Azure Monitor, Log Streaming, and the Container Console, allowing you to track performance, debug live issues, and maintain real-time visibility into your app’s health—all without interrupting operations. Watch the video on YouTube Effortless Rollbacks and Deployments with Azure Container Apps – in 1 Minute With Azure Container Apps, every deployment creates a new revision, allowing multiple versions to run simultaneously. This enables safe, real-time testing of updates without disrupting production. Rolling back is instant—just select a previous revision and restore your app effortlessly. This powerful revision control system ensures that deployments remain flexible, reliable, and low-risk. Watch the video on YouTube Watch the Full Playlist For a complete overview of Azure Container Apps capabilities, watch the full JavaScript on Azure Container Apps YouTube Playlist Create Your Own AI-Powered Video Content Inspired by these short-form technical videos? You can create your own AI-generated videos using Azure AI to automate scriptwriting and voiceovers. Whether you’re a content creator, or business looking to showcase technical concepts, Azure AI makes it easy to generate professional-looking explainer content. Learn how to create engaging short videos with Azure AI by following our open-source AI Video Playbook. Conclusion Azure Container Apps is designed to simplify modern application development by providing a fully managed, serverless container environment. Whether you need to scale microservices, integrate AI capabilities, enhance security with VNETs, or streamline CI/CD workflows, Azure Container Apps offers a comprehensive solution. By leveraging its built-in features such as automatic scaling, revision-based rollbacks, and deep observability, developers can deploy and manage applications with confidence. These one-minute videos provide a quick technical overview of how Azure Container Apps empowers you to build scalable, resilient applications with ease. FREE Content Check out our other FREE content to learn more about Azure services and Generative AI: Generative AI for Beginners - A JavaScript Adventure! Learn more about Azure AI Agent Service LlamaIndex on Azure JavaScript on Azure Container Apps JavaScript at MicrosoftEnhancing Data Security and Digital Trust in the Cloud using Azure Services.
Enhancing Data Security and Digital Trust in the Cloud by Implementing Client-Side Encryption (CSE) using Azure Apps, Azure Storage and Azure Key Vault. Think of Client-Side Encryption (CSE) as a strategy that has proven to be most effective in augmenting data security and modern precursor to traditional approaches. CSE can provide superior protection for your data, particularly if an authentication and authorization account is compromised.
Building Intelligent Apps with Azure Cache for Redis, EntraID, Azure Functions, E1 SKU, and more!
We're excited to announce the latest updates to Azure Cache for Redis that will improve your data management and application performance as we kickoff for Microsoft Build 2024. Coming soon, the Enterprise E1 SKU (Preview) will offer a lower entry price, Redis modules, and enterprise-grade features. The Azure Function Triggers and Bindings for Redis are now in general availability, simplifying your workflow with seamless integration. Microsoft EntraID in Azure Cache for Redis is now in GA, providing enhanced security management. And there's more – we are also sharing added resources for developing intelligent applications using Azure Cache for Redis Enterprise, enabling you to build smarter, more responsive apps. Read the blog below to find out more about these amazing updates and how they can enhance your Azure Cache for Redis experience.
